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To all explorers around the world,
It is with great sadness that we share news of the passing of Explorers Club Medalist Captain Jim Lovell.
Captain Lovell was a beloved member of The Explorers Club for almost 60 years. He carried our flag for both of his iconic Apollo missions: Apollo 8, as Command Module Pilot, and Apollo 13, as Commander.
In 2018, he was the recipient of our highest honor, The Explorers Club Medal, on the fiftieth anniversary of his Membership.
In a Club defined by Famous Firsts, Jim Lovell defined his own: the first rendezvous of two manned maneuverable spacecraft, during Gemini 7; the first pilot of a manned spacecraft lifted into near-Earth orbit; the first to leave Earth’s gravitational influence, to orbit the moon, and to see its far side, alongside his Apollo 8 teammates Frank Borman and William Anders; and the first of only three people to fly to the moon twice.
As one might imagine, riding a rocket filled with high explosives into the vacuum of space carries some risks. Lovell, time and again, braved risks to expand human knowledge. But one can’t just be a risk-taker; exploration requires ingenuity, courage, perseverance, and leadership.
“I realized it really was a triumph in the way people handled a crisis: Good leadership at all levels at NASA, the use of imagination and initiative to figure out how to get us home by using just what we had on board, the perseverance of people who kept on going when it looked like initially that we didn’t have a chance.… This is why Apollo 13 went from being a failure to a triumph.”
Although Jim stopped traveling to space decades ago, he continued to be an inspiration to people young and old by encouraging their interest in science, and leading by his own example – one must be bold to turn the impossible into reality.
Captain Lovell’s life and legacy are in keeping with the highest traditions of The Explorers Club. For those of us who knew him, Jim was a humble, down-to-earth friend. Legends aren’t only made in space — sometimes, they’re made in the way they treat people here on Earth.
Ad astra,
Richard Wiese
President, The Explorers Club
